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3D printing is something we are hearing more and more about. The ability to create something in a 3D art package and then physically print it at home is quite a powerful idea. Need a new hook for your door? Don’t buy it, print it instead!

Now MakerBot Industries, creators of affordable, open source 3D printers, is taking 3D printing a step further in the name of conservation and attempting to create the perfect home for hermit crabs.

As you may know, hermit crabs live in a shell, but they aren’t born with one. They are scavengers who have to go out and find their own. The problem is, there’s a shortage of shells, which is why we see an increasing number of images appearing of them using man-made objects such as bottle caps.

MakerBot isn’t happy about this, and has realized their printers offer the perfect opportunity to solve the shortage. By creating the perfect shell design for the crabs, it can be printed and used by anyone who owns hermit crabs.

In order to create the perfect shell, MakerBot has setup a crab habitat in both Brooklyn and Los Angeles where a few test pilot crabs will live. The 3D printing community is being asked to create shells and send the designs in. Through trial and error the crabs will try out each of the designs and MakerBot should get an idea of what works best before settling on a final design.

The test shells will be made in plastic, but the material for the winning shell won’t be decided upon until the final design/s have been chosen. Obviously MakerBot doesn’t want to put more plastic in the sea, so an alternative will have to be found. However, the main goal is to produce shells for use with hermit crabs kept as pets. In so doing it will hopefully mean less harvesting of real shells leaving more for those crabs living in the wild.